Mars Life (40 page)

Jamie tried to enter the room as quietly as possible, but still Vijay stirred awake.

“You okay?” she asked drowsily.

“More or less,” he replied.

She lifted her head slightly and squinted at the digital clock. “Try to get some sleep before the sun comes up, love.”

“Billy Graycloud’s translated the pictographs,” he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “He might be on to something.”

“That’s good.”

“He’s going back on the evacuation flight. Back to New Mexico.”

“Almost everybody is.”

“Yeah.” Jamie stretched out on the bed beside her, too tired and worn down even to take off his coveralls. But something was playing in his mind. A thought, an idea, fragile, elusive. He almost had it, but it kept slipping away from his conscious grasp. Something Billy said, he remembered. Something about rain and the desert. . .

Turn the desert into a Garden of Eden, Jamie said to himself. Easier said than—

He sat bolt upright in the bed. “Why not?” he said aloud.

Vijay turned toward him. “Why not what?”

“We could do it!”

“Do what?” She sat up beside him.

“We could do it!” he repeated, almost shouting. “I’ve got to tell Dex! And Hasdrubal.”

Jamie jumped off the bed and ran to the door, leaving Vijay in the bed, startled and confused.

“Chrissake, Jamie, it’s not even six o’clock!” Dex complained.

Jamie had waited as long as he could. He’d never felt so excited, not since the moment when he’d first set foot on Mars, back in the First Expedition.

Still barefoot, Jamie had gone from his bedroom to the cafeteria and started up the coffeemaker. He fidgeted around impatiently, mentally reviewing what he had to do. Billy Graycloud came out of the comm center, yawning, together with the two technicians who had been on duty there. Their replacements shuffled in, looking surprised that the aroma of brewing coffee was already wafting through the dimly lit dome.

Jamie had laughed and waved at Graycloud, then taken a mug of coffee and sat impatiently in the cafeteria, thinking, planning, hoping, waiting for the sun to come up. At last the dome’s wall depolarized and became transparent again. Jamie saw the rusty surface of Mars out there, rocks scattered everywhere, the massive cliffs rising almost perpendicularly, so high their top was cut off by the edge of the dome’s transparent section.

He couldn’t wait any longer. Sitting at the cafeteria table, his insides fluttering, he yanked out his pocket phone and buzzed Dex.

A sleepy, “Whassamatter?”

“Come on out to the cafeteria, Dex. I’ve got something to tell you. Something important.”

“Jamie?”

“Yes! Get up! Now!”

“Chrissake, Jamie, it’s not even six o’clock!”

“Coffee’s waiting for you.”

Dex mumbled something and cut the connection. Jamie laughed inwardly. If he doesn’t come out in a few minutes I’ll go over and drag him out of bed.

He thought about calling Hasdrubal. And Chang. No, Jamie said to himself. Dex first. Just Dex. One-on-one. I’ll tell the others afterward.

Dex came out of his quarters, squinting unhappily at the sunlight lancing through the dome as he trudged slowly toward Jamie in the cafeteria. Jamie bolted out of his chair and sprinted toward him.

“What’s going on? What’s happened? Christ, you don’t even have shoes on!”

Steering Dex toward the coffee machine, Jamie said eagerly, “We’ve been looking through the wrong end of the telescope! All this time you’ve been thinking about terraforming the area for your tourists.”

“And you’ve been dead against it,” Dex muttered.

“I was wrong. We both were wrong. We don’t terraform Mars for human visitors. We terraform for the Martians!”

Dex squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “It’s too damned early for jokes, Jamie.”

“It’s no joke! Take a piece of Mars and terraform it so that Martian organisms can live in it!”

“Terraform for Martians?”

“Terraform’s the wrong word. Areform it. Ares is the astronomical term for Mars, isn’t it?”

Dex reached for the coffeepot with one hand, a mug with his other.

“Jamie, what the hell are you talking about?”

“You went out with us to Hasdrubal’s crater yesterday.”

“Yeah. His bugs are all dead.”

Guiding Dex to a table, Jamie said, “Well, suppose we had another crater, deep enough to expose the microbes living below the permafrost.”

“They’d die off from the cold and radiation, just like the ones—”

“Not if we domed over the crater!” Jamie said as they sat down. “Let the air pressure build up inside it naturally. Protect it from the cold and radiation.”

Dex opened his mouth, closed it. At last he said, “You think the bugs could live?”

“In a Martian environment! Yes!”

With a slow shake of his head, Dex asked, “How do you know what kind of environment they’d need? They live deep underground, don’t they?”

“We’ll make several craters. Five, ten, whatever. Make slightly different environments in each of them. Vary the air pressure, the temperature —and watch the microbes adapt to the new conditions.”

“They’ll all die.”

“Hasdrubal’s microbes survived for a couple of weeks,” Jamie countered. “If we protect them, give them better conditions, some of them might survive. It’s worth trying!”

“And study them as they adapt,” Dex muttered.

“It’s a chance to begin repopulating Mars!”

“They’re only bacteria, Jamie.”

“But they’ll evolve, over time.”

“Millions of years.”

“So we do a long-term experiment!”

Dex leaned back in his chair and took a long swig of coffee. “You’re crazy, you know.”

“So was Archimedes,” Jamie said, laughing.

“Eureka and all that.’

“We can do it, Dex! The greatest experiment of all time! We can bring life back to Mars! Instead of watching the planet die, we can repopulate it!”

“And who’s going to pay for it?”

Jamie hesitated, then answered, “Your tourists, I guess.”

Sitting up straighter, Dex said, “You’ll let tourists here?”

“This area only,” Jamie said, his old reluctance giving way only slightly. “The village, the cliff structures. Five at a time. They stay for one week.”

Before Dex could respond, Jamie added, “And no terraforming. They go out in nanosuits, just like the rest of us.”

Dex pursed his lips, then said, “Might make them enjoy the trip better, using the suits, make them realize they’re really on Mars.”

“I’ll take charge of the visitors,” Jamie said. “Personally.” That’s the price I’ll have to pay, he told himself.

Dex grinned at him. “Yes, warden.”

“And, Dex, can you add into their price a fellowship for students who want to spend a year on Mars?”

“Maybe.” Dex thought about it for a moment. “Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

Jamie sucked in a deep breath. “Okay. Now let’s tell Hasdrubal. And Chang.”

“You tell them,” said Dex. “Soon’s I finish this coffee I’m going back to my room and pack.”

With a laugh, Jamie said, “I’ve got something for you to take back with you. Billy Graycloud’s translated the Martian writing.”

“Translated — ?”

“It’s a prayer, Dex. A beautiful Martian prayer to the sun.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“You can stir up some interest with it. Get some media attention.”

Dex nodded slowly. “Sure.”

“Good.”

Getting slowly to his feet alongside Jamie, coffee mug in one hand, Dex asked, “Can I go pack my bag now?”

“You don’t want to stay?”

“Hell no. I’ve got a lot to do back on Earth. You stay here, Jamie. This is home for you.”

Jamie fingered the bear fetish in his coveralls pocket as he stood between Chang Laodong and Carter Carleton watching the access tube disconnect from the squat, squarish body of the L/AV and roll back toward the dome.

So long, Dex, Jamie said silently. Pick your tourists carefully. I’ll be here waiting for them.

“LIFTOFF IN FIFTEEN SECONDS,” the overhead speakers announced, “FOURTEEN . . . THIRTEEN ...”

Saleem Hasdrubal came up beside them. Looking out at the L/AV, he said, “I hear you’ve been talkin’ about my work.”

“... TEN . . . NINE . . . EIGHT ...”

Jamie said, “That’s right.”

“Mind tellin’ 
me 
about it?”

“... FIVE . . . FOUR ...”

Jamie held up a finger, his eyes on the landing/ascent vehicle, his other hand squeezing the fetish. Rocket launches always had an element of danger, he knew.

“... TWO . . . ONE . . . LIFTOFF.”

The L/AV hurtled out of sight, the hot exhaust from its ascent engine spraying grit and pebbles across the landing area.

“Liftoff nominal,” they heard the astronaut pilot’s voice, almost as emotionless as the computer. “On track for orbital rendezvous.”

Jamie relaxed his grip on the stone bear. Turning to Hasdrubal, he began explaining his idea for repopulating the dying Mars. Together with Carleton and Chang they started walking slowly away from the airlock area.

The biologist’s eyes widened as he grasped what Jamie was saying. “It’d take a million years before you saw any development,” he said, his voice slightly hollow with awe.

Jamie replied, “It’ll be a long-term experiment, that’s for sure.”

Chang asked, “Can it be done?”

“Blasting out some new craters and doming ‘em over?” Hasdrubal asked. “Yeah, sure. Make ‘em deep enough to expose the SLiMEs. Why not?”

The mission director almost smiled. “Then watch bacteria adapt to new conditions.”

“Watch them evolve,” said Carleton. “The fundamentalists are going to go wild over that.”

“Let them,” Jamie said tightly. “Tourism will keep us funded.” And he realized, “Every tourist who comes here will be a walking advertisement for our work when he gets back home.”

Carleton grinned mischievously. “I’ll put them to work at the dig. That should give them something to talk about when they return to Earth.”

“Let them take souvenirs home?” Jamie asked.

The anthropologist shrugged. “Martian rocks. Or pebbles, more likely.”

Chang spoke up. “When a tourist digs up something of significance, artifact or fossil, attach his or her name to it. Give them pride.”

“Good idea,” said Carleton. “We’ll keep a running catalogue of all the bits and pieces, with the names of the people who found them.”

Hasdrubal still seemed somewhat dazed by Jamie’s idea. “A million-year experiment. There’s never been anything like it.”

“Yes there has,” Jamie replied. “You and me, all of us, all the life on Earth.”

“And Mars, too, I guess,” the biologist admitted.

“But now we can do a controlled experiment.”

“And take notes.” Hasdrubal laughed, a little shakily.

They had reached the cafeteria.

Chang gestured to the nearest table. “A proper ceremony is in order,” he said. “Please wait here.”

The mission director hurried back toward his office.

“What’s he up to?” Jamie wondered.

Carleton said, “I bet I know.”

Chang reemerged a moment later, carrying a slim green bottle in one chubby hand.

“Rice wine,” he explained once he reached their table. “From my home province.”

They drank a toast to the new project: Chang, Carleton, Hasdrubal and Jamie. To the future. To the million-year experiment.

Then Carleton got to his feet.

“Going to excavation?” Chang asked, an almost amiable smile on his chunky face.

“In a while,” the anthropologist said. “First I’m going to put in a call to Selene. We’re going to need a nanotechnology expert to oversee building the domes over the craters. I know just the right person.”

As he hurried off toward his quarters, they heard Carleton almost singing, “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments. . . .”

It was a long and exhilarating day. Chang actually laughed as he cancelled the evacuation flight. Carleton and his crew went out to the dig with renewed spirit. Hasdrubal gathered most of the biologists and began planning the first steps of what they all called the million-year experiment.

As darkness fell and the dome’s transparent windows went opaque, Jamie stood by the entrance of his office cubicle and listened to the hum of activity. The cafeteria was filling up. People were laughing and joking. The overhead speakers blared up-tempo pop tunes.

He and Vijay had dinner with Hasdrubal and Zeke Larkin.

“I asked Carleton about blowing out new craters,” Larkin said over his plate of soymeat. “He’s the local expert on explosives.”

“And?” Jamie prodded.

“He said he’d help us all he could.”

Hasdrubal chuckled. “Maybe he’s hopin’ you’ll blow your head off.”

Larkin grinned back at him. “Yeah. Maybe so.”

“The important thing,” Jamie pointed out, “is that you can work together on this.”

“That we will do,” Hasdrubal said firmly.

All through dinner Vijay said very little, and as she and Jamie walked back to their quarters he asked, “Anything wrong? You’ve been a quiet little mouse all evening.”

“You had a lot to say,” she countered.

“Guess I did,” he admitted.

Vijay slid her arm into his. “You’ve done it, Jamie. You’ve found the right path.”

The memory of his grandfather flickered through Jamie’s awareness. 
This village don’t exist yet, 
Al had told him in his dream. But it will, Jamie said to himself. We’ll bring it to life.

“I don’t know if it’s the right path,” Jamie replied to Vijay, “but I think it’s a path that we can all follow. A path that will lead to where we want to go.”

“Even if it takes a million years?” she teased.

“Even if takes longer,” he said, totally serious.

“The important thing is, you’re going to keep the operation going,” she said. “You’re going to make it better than ever.”

Jamie nodded. “At least we’ll be able to stay on Mars.”

“People will be on Mars all the time.”

“Even tourists,” he said.

“You’ll handle them. You’ll put them to work, won’t you?”

“That’s the plan.”

Later, as they were undressing for bed, Jamie came to a realization. “You know, all through dinner you were looking at me in a kind of funny way.”

Vijay’s brows rose questioningly.

“It wasn’t just that you were quiet most of the time. You had this funny expression on your face.”

As she slipped her naked body under the sheet Vijay asked, “A funny expression?”

“Funny as in strange.” Jamie sat on the edge of the bed, then stretched out beside her and pulled up the sheet. He switched off the light. Vijay cuddled her body against his.

“What kind of expression?” she whispered into his ear.

He turned toward her, and in the darkness he answered, “I don’t know. Kind of like you knew something I didn’t. Kind of like you had a secret.”

“I don’t have any secrets from you, love.”

“I know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

For a moment Vijay said nothing. They lay together, bodies pressed tight.

Then, “We’ll be staying on Mars permanently, won’t we, Jamie?”

“Looks that way.”

“I’ve been talking it over with Nari. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have another baby.”

“Another . . . ? What? Here on Mars?”

Vijay laughed softly in the darkness. “Think of it as a biology experiment; a nine-month experiment.”

“That’s some experiment,” Jamie muttered. “It’s a big decision, Vijay. Are you sure—”

“I was sure when we left New Mexico, love. I just had to wait until you got everything sorted out in your head. And now you have, so . . . why not?”

“At our age?”

“That’s no problem.”

“But... on Mars?”

“Children have been born on the Moon. It’s perfectly natural.”

“But-”

“Nari will take good care of me. I’ll be fine and we’ll have a healthy child. It’ll be good publicity for Dex to use.”

Despite himself, Jamie laughed. “A publicity stunt.”

“A baby. Our baby. It’s time we did it.”

“A nine-month experiment.”

She nuzzled her cheek against his. “Mars forever,” Vijay whispered.

“Forever,” he whispered back.